Return to Main Menu

Speed monitor to promote safety awareness at MUSC by Chris West Public Relations  Lead-footed motorists, beware! Public Safety’s newest “employee” is watching, monitoring and most of all, showing you how fast you’re going.   “The most motivating factor in acquiring the Speed Monitor Trailer is to increase citizen awareness of their speed,” said Lt. Terry Howell, Public Safety. “Many areas of campus have high pedestrian and vehicular traffic and motorists need to be aware of their rate of speed to ensure the safety of all.”   Lt. Terry Howell, Public Safety, sets up the speed monitor. The Speed Monitor Trailer is a speed curbing device designed to display the posted speed limit and then using radar technology, it monitors and displays a vehicle's rate of speed.   The trailer has several features that heighten its ability to alert drivers of their speed. The posted speed limit is set high upon the top of the display box, the display numerals are 18 inches high and will flash if a passing driver's speed is above the posted limit. The unit also has a large window area so passing drivers can see if anything is directly behind the trailer.   The first major vein of traffic to see the trailer in use will be Ashley Avenue on the block between Sabin and Bee streets. It should be positioned within the next week.   “The decision to purchase the trailer was a proactive decision on the part of Charles Wiley, chief of Public Safety. His budget proposal was submitted and the trailer was one item under consideration,” Howell said.    It was readily approved by administration.    The trailer was a welcome public safety addition based on its performance in past studies. In one study conducted in San Diego, with a speed monitor placed in school zones, speeds were reduced on an average of five to eight miles per hour and speeding occurrences were reduced from 77 percent of drivers exceeding the posted limit to 20 percent. The effects were long-lasting as well, in that the percent remained close to 20 well after the trailer had been removed.   Studies were conducted at Texas A&M and at the University of Nebraska. Both institutions reflected similar situations and results.    Howell expects that the trailer will be received with the same positive effects by staff, students and especially the surrounding community as it was with MUSC administration supporting the Department of Public Safety and its concern with the campus and its neighbors.   Howell said the entire force will be trained in the use and operation of the trailer and it will be premiered at the Law Enforcement Day celebration, Sept. 16 at Northwoods Mall.   The trailer is built very ruggedly, it has high-security locks on the storage box and the aperture that raises the display box and an axle lock that prevents the unit from being moved or rolled. The structure itself is also coated in graffiti-resistant paint.   “People are just more in a hurry than in the past. Speeding is a conscious decision on the part of the driver and people are just more inclined to get to where they are going in much more of a rush than they used to be. It has gotten very aggressive out there,” Howell said.   “Attaining and implementing the trailer was a self-initiative to maintain order and promote roadway safety decreasing driving situations. As a campus, we are a small part of a greater community. We are simply trying to be good neighbors.”    Information regarding the trailer and pictures of the trailer are available on the Public Safety Web site at <http://www.musc.edu/publicsafety>.